Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee ordered to appear before Ghaziabad court

In fresh trouble for Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who is facing an arrest warrant, the Supreme Court has directed him to appear before a Ghaziabad court in a 1.4 million dollar cheating case filed against him.

A bench of justices C K Prasad and P C Ghose, however, directed that the arrest warrant issued against 72-year-old Lee for his non-appearance in the case before the trial court will not be executed for a period of six weeks.

"However, the warrant of arrest issued against the petitioner (Lee) shall not be executed for a period of six weeks from today (March 31).

"In the meanwhile, the petitioner shall appear before the trial court in seisin(hearing) of the case and seek bail and/or exemption from appearance in accordance with law," the bench said.

The court, however, made it clear that it was not expressing any opinion on the merit of the case pending before the trial court.

The bench passed the order on Monday on an appeal filed by Lee challenging the Allahabad High Court's order dismissing his plea for setting aside arrest warrant issued against him.

A complaint was filed by an Indian company, JCE Consultancy, against Lee in the Ghaziabad court for allegedly cheating it of 1.4 million dollar.

Lee had then approached the high court and the Supreme Court for quashing of FIR against him but his plea was rejected by both the courts earlier.

The trial court, thereafter, issued arrest warrant against him for not appearing before it in the case.

Update: A Samsung spokesperson has issued the following statement:

With respect to the March 31, 2014 Order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, we would clarify as follows.

This case is related to a multi-million dollar fraud scheme perpetrated against a Samsung subsidiary in Dubai, Samsung Gulf Electronics.

The perpetrators of the fraud were convicted years ago in Dubai to 2 years in prison, but having illegally fled justice, are now wanted by the Government of the UAE.

Samsung Gulf Electronics is a victim of this fraud scheme.

Despite this, a private criminal complaint was filed by a party in India claiming to have received a bill-of-exchange used in this fraud. Chairman Lee has no relation to this case whatsoever.

There are no grounds, let alone evidence, to support the accusation against Chairman Lee. Chairman Lee is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the many overseas subsidiaries of Samsung.

We are confident that the Indian Courts will recognize the innocence of Chairman Lee and deliver justice.